Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1)

by Alycia Linwood

  They were already waiting for me inside when I showed up. I closed the door and locked it behind me.

  “Hey,” I said and walked over to them, sitting down on one of the chairs. They didn’t say anything but just stared at me, the expression on their faces grim and unforgiving. I could do it. I had to.

  “I’m really sorry about what happened,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I…”

  “Did you really sleep with him?” Michael swallowed, trying to keep his face expressionless. “Willingly?”

  “Yes, I did,” I said, and Paula burst into tears.

  “Why?” she choked out. “Why with my boyfriend?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “It kind of… happened.”

  “Happened? But how?” Michael said with a hint of anger in his voice. “You hated him! You didn’t even see each other, and so suddenly you just…”

  “There’s something you both need to know,” I said. “Something I didn’t tell you because I was afraid… I was afraid to lose you, but now I guess it doesn’t matter.”

  “Tell us what?” Michael said suspiciously.

  “Michael.” I looked at him. “Do you remember that night when we almost slept together? When I lost my balance and nearly choked you to death?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” he said. They were both watching me intently, trying to figure it out what was I talking about. There was a huge lump in my throat, but I had to get the words out before I started to cry or something.

  “I didn’t lose my balance,” I said. “I did try to kill you… at first… because… because I have the magic disease.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes as I said it. It felt like by saying this out loud in front of two very important people in my life everything became more real. I finally admitted to myself that I had the disease and that it wasn’t just going to go away. Michael and Paula stared at me in shock, not believing what they’d just heard.

  “No.” Paula shook her head. “It can’t be. It can’t!”

  “Yeah, I didn’t believe it either,” I said, letting the tears run down my face freely.

  “How? How did you get it?” Paula blinked through tears. We were turning into a huge crying party.

  “I don’t know. I guess I inherited it,” I said. “But I’m still trying to find out...”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Michael was suddenly in front of me, pulling me into a tight hug.

  “I couldn’t… I thought you’d… hate me,” I cried. “And I wanted it go away… I don’t know. I was stupid, I know…”

  “Ria.” Paula was on the other side of me, putting her hands around me too. “We love you. We could never hate you. Right, Michael?”

  “Right,” he said, and we just stayed for some time like that, hugging and crying. After we’d calmed down, I told them everything that had happened to me these months, but deliberately avoided mentioning any of Adrian’s secrets. I just told them how Adrian had been helping me to stay in control of myself and how awful it was to feel the elements.

  “I’ll find the cure, Ria.” Paula held my hands in hers. “I promise. I won’t sleep, I won’t care about studying… but I’ll find the cure, got it?”

  “I know you will, but it’s ok. Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Sure you will. But I think I discovered the place where the government keeps those secret files. If we break in there, we can get the files and I can find the cure and…” Paula was too excited about her plan to save me. She and Michael talked like they had just gotten me back from the dead, and maybe they had. I told them why I didn’t want anyone to know about the disease, and they both swore to keep my secret. I had really been an idiot. How could I not have confided in those who cared about me so much?

  “I’ll help you.” Michael smiled at Paula. “I’ll do anything to help my girlfriend with this.”

  “Girlfriend?” I looked at him in surprise.

  “Yeah, you’re my girlfriend, aren’t you?” he said, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “You mean… You can forgive me for..?” I said.

  “I love you, Ria,” he said. “And I know you love me too. What happened between you and Adrian… it doesn’t matter. He used your vulnerability, and that’s all.”

  How good it sounded when you put it like that. And maybe it was true. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I didn’t want to lose Michael, not again.

  “Michael… I don’t know what to say,” I said.

  “Will you be my girlfriend?” He smiled. “Again?”

  “I would love to,” I said. “But I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I still kind of can’t be around people without Adrian’s help.”

  “I know, and I won’t be angry about it. I promise,” he said. “Besides, you know how it is with Adrian. He never sleeps with the same girl twice… oh, I’m sorry, Paula.”

  “It’s ok.” She sighed. “I’m done with him. He’ll never love me.”

  “You deserve better,” I said to her, and she just smiled. It was so nice to have my best friend back. I knew it would take her some time to recover from this, but she would be fine. She had just needed something as big as Adrian sleeping with her best friend to prove that he wasn’t for her and that she should quit trying to turn him into a better person. And she really was too good for him, just like Michael was too good for me…

  “So, what do you say?” Michael was standing inches away from me, his green eyes shining like two emeralds.

  “I’ll be your girlfriend… again.” I smiled, and he kissed me. I felt water all around me and I moved away.

  “I’m sorry… your element,” I said, turning around and taking deep breaths. I knew it wouldn’t help, but this whole little gathering was too full of emotions and it had drained me.

  “Sorry,” Michael said. “I’ll be more careful.”

  “But I just don’t understand why you still have your element,” Paula frowned, back in her scientist mode. “I could do some tests…”

  “No,” I said. I hadn’t told them about Adrian, so Paula basically considered me to be a miracle.

  “Yeah, but it could help!” she said. “We still don’t know how you got the disease, and I can’t believe you haven’t looked for answers!”

  “I did, but I think I should be careful with this,” I said. “My brother told me not to tell my parents, so he must know something. And I’m quite sure my parents don’t have the disease… I don’t know, it’s all so confusing.”

  “We need to get those secret files,” Paula said determinedly. “And according to my books, they are near here. I bet they are in that building the Council has. It’s just a perfect destination.”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s too obvious.”

  “No, I think Paula’s right,” Michael said. I knew they were both wrong, but I couldn’t tell them I’d been there with Adrian to steal that damn journal. Maybe I should have told them everything, but then there would be questions about Adrian, and I didn’t want to betray him. Funny, because I was sure he’d betray me.

  Paula was getting too excited about the new research and my case that I couldn’t stand a minute more with them. Their elements were all over the place, and I couldn’t risk snapping. We hugged hastily and then I went to find Adrian. I almost felt guilty about doing that now that Michael and Paula had forgiven me, but there was nothing else I could do.

  I shivered as I entered Adrian’s room because the air inside was colder than outside on a winter night. Adrian was sitting on the windowsill, as usual, and staring through the window. Now I knew better why he liked that place so much. Spending too much time in a windowless room could make you love windows.

  “I’m not a penguin, you know,” I said, and he looked at me like I was crazy.

  “The room is freezing!” I said, rubbing my hands together.

  “Oh, sorry,” he said, looking surprised. He hadn’t eve
n noticed he was doing that. Weird. I started walking towards him and reached inside of me for my element. This room needed a little bit of heating.

  “Just hold me, would you?” I said, and we ended up lying on the bed. His arms were around me as usual, and it felt so good that I couldn’t help but feel like I was betraying Michael again… and myself. But Michael had agreed to this, right? Right? There was no one to answer that question.

  “Did you tell them?” Adrian asked.

  “Yeah. They forgave me,” I said. “I’m still Michael’s girlfriend. And I didn’t tell them anything that involved you… if that’s what worries you.”

  “Good,” he said. Why was I even trying to be nice to a guy who had toyed with me so he could add me to his list? For some unknown reason I hoped that everything hadn’t been just an act to get me to sleep with him. Something was seriously wrong with me.

  “Paula and Michael believe there are files that could help Paula discover a cure for the magic disease,” I said. “Maybe they have discovered it already and are hiding it from us… I don’t know.”

  “I don’t care,” he said. “There’s no cure.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I said.

  “Stop living in dreams,” he said. “Let them research whatever they want, but keep your mouth shut about me.”

  “But they think that place is the Council’s building!” I said. “We can’t let them go there! It would be an unnecessary risk! And I don’t want to go near that place again. If I could just tell them the whole truth…”

  “No,” he said. “If they want to go there, let them. You don’t have to go with them.”

  “But…”

  “Shut the fuck up, will you?” he yelled, and I looked up at him.

  “Ah, so now that you had sex with me, you don’t have to be nice anymore,” I said angrily.

  “Well, I didn’t kick you out of the room, did I?” he said.

  “No, but I think you would have if you didn’t need me,” I said. “Why don’t you just tell me what’s wrong? There’s a reason why you turned the room into a freakin’ penguin playground!”

  He just stared at me with his cold gray-blue eyes.

  “I know where the secret place is,” he suddenly said, and I blinked. He was changing the subject, great. But he got me there.

  “How?” I asked suspiciously. Maybe it was just another thing he invented to trick me again.

  “My father wrote about it,” he said. Judging by the look on his face… no, I was clueless again.

  “Show me,” I said. If there was really something written in that journal, then I wanted to see it. No more believing anything without proof.

  “The journal’s in the drawer,” he said. I frowned because the drawer was on the other side of him. But, no, the bastard wouldn’t even lift a finger to help me. I had to reach over him to get to the drawer. Great. I got the journal and just as I was settling back on the bed next to him, he snatched it out of my hands. He went through a few pages and gave it back to me open on one.

  “Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically.

  “No problem.” He smiled, and I rolled my eyes. Well, better to focus my attention on the journal before my fist decided to flirt again with Adrian’s jaw.

  “Scientists have discovered more than anyone could imagine, but the government wants to keep it away from people. The magic disease is still a great way of manipulating people. If you want to get rid of someone, simply accuse him of having the magic disease. If you want to marry into a rich family, spread the word about how the magic disease is dangerous, and soon enough, if you’re of a pure element, your dreams will come true. And, after all, it’s easier to manipulate people if they hate each other,” I read it out loud, because I hoped that way I would understand it better. I continued reading.

  “There’s an international deal, and Councils from all over the world signed it. The deal is that everything that mentions the magic disease should be stored in a safe place. That way the scientists believe their materials go to the other scientists across the world in order for their theories to be checked or compared, and no one doubts it when negative results come back. If not the negative results, then they are told someone else had already discovered it somewhere in the world. The files are stored only to keep an eye on the discoveries and to have proof against everyone who dares to think something strange is going on.”

  “I have reasons to believe that place is underground. Somewhere near the Council’s offices, but not quite there. I would have found it already, but being a member of the Council doesn’t mean you have access to all the information. Actually, most of the information is hidden from the Council members, only a few families get a special pass, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. Anyway, as for the location of that secret place, I believe it is exactly under the Hotel Blue Moon. The man who built it there was a member of the Council. And the University of Magic is near enough.”

  I stared at the page because I was getting dizzy from all the underlined words. When I looked back at the real text, it seemed like a lunatic had written it. The word 'enough' was actually made from the sentence: ‘Eleven nights of her pure fragrance have me crazed.’ Adrian’s father probably hadn't had time to come up with the sentences, or he’d gone mad because of all of it. And Adrian was probably tired of underlining because he'd stopped after h.

  “Hotel Blue Moon is here, isn’t it?” I said, my throat dry from reading. It seemed unlikely that the secret place would be right here in this town, but all the important buildings were around here. This was actually a good place, and if I remembered correctly, there were some old tunnels under the town. Years ago people had believed they could find gold here, so they made those tunnels, which were abandoned later since they proved to be completely useless. I thought everyone had forgotten about it at this point.

  “Yeah,” he said. “It’s here.”

  “That makes sense actually,” I said.

  “Really?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “If you read a book sometime, maybe you’d know,” I said, trying to remember anything specific from my History books. Maybe I hadn’t really paid enough attention to History last few months, but I still remembered things I’d learned in high school. Just there wasn’t anything else except what had already come to my mind earlier. And exactly that made it a perfect hiding place.

  “I have to tell this to Paula,” I said, sitting up. Adrian grabbed my arm painfully and pulled me back down.

  “No,” he said.

  “Let go of me!” I yelled, but his grip on my arm remained tight.

  “You’re going to leave a bruise on my arm, you moron!” I said, and he finally let go. I put down the journal and rubbed my arm. He observed me carefully for a moment and then reached again for my arm. I flinched, but didn’t want to let him see he startled me, so I tried to keep still. He ran his fingers gently down my arm. Suddenly I had a flashback of the night we had spent together, and it sent chills down my spine. My body wanted him, and that scared me like hell.

  I moved out of his reach, and he let his hand fall down on the bed. Damn it, what was wrong with me? That boy had used me, tricked me, manipulated me,… the list was too long, but one part of me was willing to ignore it all for another night like that. Had it been like that with Michael? Had it been that good? I knew I would never know, because Adrian had taken that away from me too. No, I had actually; I should have known he wouldn’t want to sleep twice with Paula.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “I’m thinking of an effective way to kill you.” I smiled unpleasantly.

  “No, you’re not,” he said. “I know that look on your face.”

  “You know nothing,” I said. Maybe Paula and Michael would just believe me. Surely I could come up with something, but that would mean lying to them again. I sighed and closed my eyes. I needed to relax first. Everything else could wait, even my inexplicable physical attraction to Adrian.

  Chapter 25
<
br />   Paula and Michael had already made a whole plan when I came to our meeting spot. Michael thought that the park behind our university building would be a perfect place to plan breaking and entering. I agreed only because we could hide there behind the trees and I wouldn’t have to worry about too many elements being around me all the time. They were sitting in the grass surrounded by papers, and I joined them.

  “We will go there this weekend,” Michael said. “We don’t have classes then and the Council also has free time. Security will still be there, but we will figure something out.”

  “But that’s not the place!” I said. “My father is in the Council! I know that’s not the right place. I think it’s somewhere closer here and I’m sure I could find out if I asked my father.”

  “Ria, I don’t think your father has that much power in the Council,” Michael said.

  “Yeah, but would they be so obvious about it?” I said.

  “Everyone knows there are important files somewhere in there, but no one ever mentioned secret files, of course,” Paula said. “That’s why they’re probably there.”

  “Ok, fine,” I said. “But how are we going to get inside? We’re not professional criminals!”

  “We don’t have to be,” Michael said. “I already got the map of the place and all the security info.”

  “Where did you get that?” I frowned.

  “I have a friend who works there,” Michael said. I blinked. Wow. They really did believe the Council had it all in that building. There was no way to convince them the opposite. But if Michael had a friend there, then maybe it wouldn’t be so dangerous to do it and we could just go there and return. That visit would definitely prove them wrong.

  “A friend?” I said. “Great. Did you tell him what you are planning to do so he can call the police?”

  “He owes me,” Michael said. “Besides, we won’t steal anything. Just copy the files and get the hell out of there.”